THE RECENT FLOODS.

Colonist, Volume XXX, Issue 4556, 9 October 1886, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE RECENT FLOODS.

(From ' The Colonisst,' September 13.) THE WAIMEA Without a personal inspection of the districts which were most seriously affected by last Wednesday's flood, it would be impossible to form any conception of the mischief done. Up till a comparatively late hour oa Wednesday evening, although it had then been raining heavily for some eighteen hours, no alarm was felt by the majority of the settlers whose homesteads were at any distarce from the river or the more dangerous of the creeks ; but at midnight many who had previously thought themselves safe, were alarmed by the rush of water, and in some places, in the dim light from the obscured moon, it looked as though the whole Plain was covered with water. .It is true that some few. wko had had bitter experience in the past as to damage by flood, had become alarmed by the continued downpour, and more than one settler who was able to do so, had removed his stock to higher ground, but with others this was not even [feasible, and in two or three cases settlers left their houses at an early hour and took refuge with neighbors whose homesteads stood on higher ground. Indeed, the only circumstance connected with the flood whioh has 6aus.ecl a feeling of gratification is the readiness with which those more fortunately circumstanced assisted neighbors in distress. In one case a farmer, Mr Gledhill, found that the water was ankle deep in his own house, and hastily providing for the safety of his wife and family, he hastened to apprise a neighbor, whose house wag in a hollow, o! his danger. On being thus awakened at th< dead ef night, Mr A. Euss found that in th< lower rooms of his house there was fully thre< feet of water. One would of course expect t( find that the greatest amount of damage hac been occasioned in proximity to the mail rivers flowing through the plain, but althougl the Wakoa was heavily flooded, the Wai-iti which joins the aforenamed juat belov Brightwater, was even more so. The severa smaller streams were all more or less swollen but the volume of water which came dowi the Wai-iti seemed to come with a rush tha carried all before it. Cammencing at Be] grove we find that the horse bridge there ha assumed the shape of the letter S, the portio nearest Belgrove having a big kink in 'it, an when the width of the river bed is take into consideration, some idea of the foice ( the current may be formed from this fai alone. The next bridge, the railwa bridge at Foxhill, is uninjured, but tt road bridge just below hag been, partial] carried away, the approach from Fc Hill and the first span having gone. & the settlers whose farm* abut oa or &

as at I even .near the riyer in this district, hs I suffered more or leis, and tome tc ited: considerably. At the new bridge leadi , and to Pigeon Valley the approach on the weste home side was scoured out, but the damage has be noon repaired. The debris: and the trees whi was came against this bridge subjected itio_ ibout good a test as it is likely to have. Folio wi cup down tke river,-by way of the road, we cor "met to the Eighty Eight Valley stream, vrh.l w at] joins the Wai-iti above Wakefieldv At tl i the I point the Jimmy Lee's bridge, on tke low on's, I side is carried away, and the road is ye lined I much scoured, a deep chasm, in which He 1 small cottage might be placed, having been lei oing I At Spring Grove the footbridge leading i i on I Mr Simmond**' has been carried away; or i igin I least was unapproachable, and the extent i [the damage done on the property of tli 3 all I settler last named, if any, could not be asce: I tamed. The bridge across the Wai-it r J lat Brightwater, is standing, but the centt day I pier was undermined by the seoui was I A. short distance below this point the Wai-il ilky I junctions with the Wairoa, thence forniin and I the Waimea river, and it is at the jupctioi )ut. I perhaps that the worst damage is done. I not lis here that Mr Snowden's farm is situate ing I and a great portion of this was down in grai'i the I but suoh was the force of tbe current whicl ale. I swept over the land that the soil has beei ale, I removed from the fields, and these, which Mr J should shortly have been waving with greer ,he j crops, will now remain as desolate as the rivei are I bed. Mr F. Suowden also lost a number oi ,he I sheep and altogether his loss is estimated at ds- I fully £500. Coming down the main roa 1 he I there is little damage to report, save that the ice I road has been scoured in several places, j but on the road from Richmond to Waimea as West—along the route of the popular drive ist known as round the three bridges—the damI age was great. After passing the Travellers' :y. Best Hotel, at Appleby, the tall hedges show re where the flood has deposited rubbish, ami *fr prove that the water must have been some m eight feet deep oa the main road to Motueka. 3d Mr J. Best, Mr P. Best, and Mr 0. Best, were each sufferers. The latter geatleman was is iiwakened by the rush of waters, and found re the creek at the back of hi 3 house a roaring j torrent, which it was imposs:ble to cross, it [r J having risen on his land six feet. The sheep in the hollows were carried away, and further f. damage could not be averted. For some ij time to come it will be impossible to estimate lS I the number of sheep that were drowned, but ,i of Mrs O'Connpr's 32 were found and their h skins saved, whilst a party, who were shooting c at Best's Island on Saturday, reported that ~ they saw many carcases of sheep in the willow c trees, where they had been left by the flood, c On both sides of the Appleby bridge, in the i vicinity of the river, fences were washed f down and the ground soddened ; i'eed on the i grass paddocks in many places was covered f with silt, and in other places, where grain 1 had been sows, a re-sowing will now be r necessary. Passing up the river, \va find that ( it overflowed its banks by Mr Schwass's, and 1 the stream passing by Mr E. Disher's and 1 Mr Russ's flowed over tin main t road by Mr James Kerr's, Mr Disher had i only sown the day before, and oh his land i and that adjoiuing, the top soil has been washed off the land, and far distant as Mr - Kerr is, he will have te sow a second time a i portion of his ground. '1 he total loss will aggregate to a very considerable amount, but this' it is impossible to estimate fully. We subjoiu some particulars of INCIDENTS AND LOSSES. Mis Morrison, of Fox Hill, lost over an acre of land, and about 2000 hop poles, which were swept away. Mr Baigent, senior, had a slice of land carried away by the 88 stream. Mr M'Phersoa, of Wakefield, had a piece of land, which last year gave a good crop of hay, completely ruined, a shingle bed beiag left in its place. Mr Fowler, senior, of Spring Grove, sustained a loss in land and stock to the value of about £60. Mr Masters, Spring Grove, is a considerable loser, having growing crops and land much damaged. He also lost some sheep. Mr Nieman, Spring Grove, had two or three acres scoured of their soil. Mr Hodgson, Spring Grove, had water in his house, and on coming downstairs next morning found the pantry had been swept of its contents, and tea. sugar, etc., destroyed by the rushing stream. Mr Wratt, of Spring Grove, had to get up and let his cows out. We bear the water was up to some height in his house. Mr J. oimmonda's place at Spring Grove became an island, although we could not learn how he fared. The expression of several persons was that the dense growth of gorse in that locality formed a breakwater aud saved his land frem the full force of the rushing current. As a proof that tbe flood was the highest which has taken place in the Wai-iti river, it is stated tbat the water was in the old homestead of Mr M'Gowan at Spring Grove, where it had never reached in previous floods. Mr Bell, up the river above Brightwater, lost two or three acres of growing crops. Two or three dead cows were seen in the river bed just above Brightwater. At YvukefLld, the water coming in Mr Wallis's house near the Forest Inn, on Wednesday night at a late hour, Mrs Wallis was placed in a sulky, when her son and a yftung man lodger dragged her to a neighbor's house, after -which the two men went to look how the Eighty-eight stream bridge fared, While looking at the roaring rushing stream, they heard a noise as of erasking timber, and they had only just got off that part ef the bridge nearest to Wakefield, when it was swept away. Saturday was the first day that butchers' and bakers' carts could cross the streams so as to 3erve customers between Wakefield and Belgrove. On Thursday last a young man named Lyons tried to cross the 88 stream, when he was swept, off his horse and carried some distance down the stream before he managed to get out. He bad a narrow escape, his horse getting out on the opposite bank. Mr Frank Snowden, at Brightwater, is perhaps the heaviest loser. He lost 50 ewes with their lambs, and some 40 acres of land —a fine field of oats—was denuded of soil. His loss is estimated at £500. Mr W. White had a large bedy of water running through hip garden. Mr Price, on riding along the main road by the Church, near Mr Kerr's, on Thursday, had the water up to his saddle flaps. Mr Buss, senior, lost at least 20 sheep, and Mr W. Euss had the water a foot deep in his stable, whilst a quantity of his land is scoured, and patches of gravel have been deposited in places. The bridge leading to Eedwood's Valley was carried away, and the laud in that neighborhood has been much cut up and fences carried away. Mr Albert Buss had three feet of water in his house, a composite one, and the building has sunk so that it is no longer habitable. Mr John Satherly lost a dozen sheep, and had a lot of fencing carried away. Mr Charles Best lost at least 50 sheep and 14 ducks. DOVEDALE. • , ' September 8j It rained very heavily here all day yesterday, and the damage dsne was greater than has been done for nine years. The roads are. completely blocked. Two travelling storekeepers with their cartß have been detained here all day, as the bridges and fords are all washed away. The members of'the local Boad Board have put on all the men they can to repair the damage. The footbridge across the river Dove, and three other bridges of considerable size, have been washed away. The river Dove has out nearly into the middle of the road, and has taken away several chains "of land in one place. It.has done a considerable lot of damage to several of the settlers by washing away newly sown wheat paddocks. In one instance it took away a newly planted orchard, fence and all. The damage done to fencing is very great. ■ AH the flood gates and small foot bridges have been taken away with the flood.

pleasure lo those wfio love musio at some future date, and we believe that a comparatively short time was devoted to preparation for tbe ittpcrt now under notice. Knowing these civOTmstances it is of course only failto make some allowance, but on the whole the concert was a very enjoyable one. We were glad to notice that the Society's orchestra has received additions sinco the former concert, and on the next appearance of the Society the improvement in the orchestra will no doubt be very noticeable: The concert was opened with the overture from " William Tell," which was very evenly played and evidently appreciated, bat in the overture to the second part, that from "Der Freisohutz," \ve think that an injudicious selection had been made. The opera ia well known, and a very powerful orchestra is needed to prevent unfavorable comparisons Altogether it was too great an undertaking. It is but fair to say, however, that the orchestra did fully as well, at the least, as one could have expected. After the opening overture, Bishop's glee " The Chough and Crow," was the first item. The solo parts were scarcely up to the average, but the full parts were well taken up, and went with a good swing, especially towards the end. In the song " At Vespers" (Paolo Tosti) we must admit to having felt some disappointment. It was not that the young lady to whom it was entrusted sang lesa sweetly than she has done in the past, but the song seemed scarcely suited to her undeniably excellent voice, and certainly a mistake waa made in the omission of an organ nccompanyment. Following this song, a violin solo was performed with exceedingly good taste by a young lady a member of the orchestra, who richly deserved the compliment of the pronounced encore which her performance evoked, and upon her complying with the desire of the audience, she scored another success. Adams' song " True to the Last" was effectively rendered by a gentleman who made a decidedly favorable impression at the recent performance of the Masher Minstrels, and then came the chorus for male voices " Comrades in Arms," which was one of the most successful performances of the evening, it beiug sung with the necessary spirit. A song by Trocb, "By a Stream a Youth was Lying," was rendered by a lady, whose voice it is always a treat to listen to, and who invariably

Bings with admirable expression; however, | he song did not seem to be so well appre§iated by the audience as the performance merited. A motett, " 0 God, when Thou appearest " (Mozart) followed, and this concluded the first part The solo and chorus, •' The Prayer from Moses in Egypt," we were somewhat disappointed with; it was taken too slowly, and had not been sufficiently rehearsed. Next on the programme was the Vicar's song from the Sorcerer, " I was a pale young curate," was efficiently rendered by a gentleman who occupied a seat on the tenor benches for the first time last night.

His enunciation was particularly good, and he wixS compelled by the audience to repeat. One of the treats of the evening was the panoforte solo " Songs without word?," No. 20 (Mendelssohn), by Miss Jackson, the pianiste to the Society, whose execution was really remarkable. This young lady has, we believe, received her musical training in Nelson, and her performance, or rather performances, last night, prove not merely that she has a gift, but that she has used that gift herself, and had the advantage of most competent instruction. Following the part song " Gipsy Life," (R. Schumann), was the waltz song 'Beauty Sleep," (L. Arditti), excellently rendered by a lady who has been missed of late. Seldom has she been heard to better advantage than last night, and that her rich notes and good execution were appreciated to the full was very evident. " The Veteran " introduced an old favorite, who sang with all his wonted vigor, and who richly deserved the enthusiastic encore his song evoked. Rossini's Carnival, by the chorus, went very well, and the National Anthem brought the Concert to a close.